Cityfibre want to install box - requirements query

Blue_Doggy

The distance from the electrical socket to the BT socket is approximately 10.5 metres, so that’s quite long.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82177694#Comment_82177694

The geography of your dwelling will play a large part in where the new cable will enter your house, but there is no inherent reason why it has to be adjacent to (or anywhere near) your existing BT socket.

Rob5342

The fibre will be brought into your property and connected to an ONT which they will mount on the wall. The ONT is about half the size of a box of maltesers and will need to plug into the mains with a cable that's about 1.5m long. The ONT will need to connect to the router that your ISP supplies with an ethernet cable and the router will need to connect to the mains too as it does now. The supplied ethernet cable is normally about 1m long but you can buy much longer ones.

They are normally quite flexible about where they put the ONT but their installation tends to be very quick and dirty. My advice would be to get them to mount the ONT near to the mains socket and get a two way extension lead so the router can be plugged in too. That will get you up and running and later on you would have the option of putting the router somewhere else using either a longer ethernet cable or a power line adaptor.

spenderdave

Although convenient for them, the ONT and cable entry does not need to be anywhere near the old master socket. If you want it in your study and that is conveniently at the front of the house and upstairs they will put it there exactly where you want it and run a cable up the wall. There may be elf and safety issues if the place is not easily reachable on a ladder. I have my ONT in my upstairs study with all my other computer equipment.

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82177700#Comment_82177700

Exactly this, I read the first page waiting for a bit of sense and had to get to the second page to find it :(

Just because the old BT box is in the hallway doesn't mean that the optical cable will enter at the same point or even on the same side of the property. You'll have to speak to them when they arrive and see what they say and whether they can accommodate your requests (perhaps including reverting back to the first floor). Nobody here knows how the cable will arrive at the house, it may come off the same pole (if that's what they use now), a different pole entirely (mine was going to do that) or it may come through underground trunking.

It won't use the backplate of the current BT box as the two aren't compatible. Don't forget that if you use a landline phone, that has to plug into the router and if it has a base station, that will need a socket as well. The ONT is usually placed the other side of the CSU box on the outside of the property but they can place it a little bit away and just have a longer optical splice cable inside to the ONT. The router is connected by an ethernet cable and a flat cable can be safely tucked away under carpets or attached to skirting boards. The router (and phone if needed, although again a longer telephone cable can be used) is best placed in a central location (unless your using extenders or a mesh system) out in the open for best wifi reception.

iniltous

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82177594#Comment_82177594

Strickly speaking this isn’t allowed, City Fibre shouldn’t remove Openreach equipment to make it easier to fit theirs , next to the Openreach master socket is fine , but they shouldn’t remove the OR master socket , however what they should do and what they actually do are not necessarily the same thing.

QrizB

The distance from the electrical socket to the BT socket is approximately 10.5 metres, so that’s quite long.

Wow, I'm not sure there's any part of my house that's 10.5 metres from any other part of my house 😆

Blue_Doggy

@QrizB well spotted: it’s not 10 metres, but 10 feet.

Thanks to everyone who commented; just to update you, this was resolved when I managed to get through to Zen customer services and cancel the installation. It was very easy, and the made no quibble.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82182650#Comment_82182650

Might have been useful to know that this was an installation for Zen.

Keeping your copper infrastructure 'as is' will be fine for a while, maybe some years, but that change to fibre will be inevitable at some stage.

EDIT : I see now that you posted on another thread that your proposed install was for Zen.

QrizB

Glad that everything was sorted out without any drama 🙂